My dad blames the shooting on Call of Duty. He claims that its "brainwashing" me even though I know a significant number of friends that my dad knows about who play video games like Call of Duty for extended periods of time. He says that I am now banned from playing my Xbox ever again and cancelled and broke a bunch of Xbox stuff which adds up to him breaking about $500 worth of stuff. Anyways, I'm glad ur ok Justin! (Even though I knew you weren't even at Colorado at the time of the shooting.... derp )
IamSaj: your dad's opinion is silly if he thinks there is reason in his argument. If it were true that the games you play shape who you are, then I would be an amazing architect right now...i'm just saying. The majority of us can separate fantasy from fiction, and why other adults (I say other b/c I am a grown woman and a mother) don't understand that is beyond me. I've watched horror movies my entire life, and yet I have never gone out and slaughtered people. This argument is baseless and a way for parents to reign over their children instead of guiding them.
Parents have to do what they think is best. Knee-jerk reactions to traumatic situations are natural. It is not the end of the world. No need calling people stupid.
I read the article you linked. It's interesting that gun crime has decreased in your country because in the States we have seen just the opposite happen in every State that has decreased its gun control. Assuming cause/effect in either case is a great example of the post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy. The article tries to make an argument that Americans have so many guns because of fear. I suppose that's one possibility since I've made the same argument about my fellow countrymen who are such major warmongers because they are afraid of sheepherders who live in caves half a world away. It's likely that some folks have their guns due to fear. There are four guns in my household and they have nothing to do with fear, per se. They are more of an insurance policy since when seconds count the police are only minutes away. But mostly because we have a lot of rights which we take seriously. Those rights were originally claimed with guns and the guns are necessary to maintain those rights. Some folks believe that their government is run by altruistic people, but those of us who've studied much history know better. We know that a well-armed public is one of the few safeguards against tyranny. We know that our species is a bloodthirsty, murderous one. The author of the article you linked doesn't think that violence is an answer to violence. In some cases that may be true, but if I came home to some thug raping my daughter I will choose the "bullet in the back of the head" option over the "big hugs and fireside 'kumbaya' singing" every time. My solution very likely will save future victims at the expense of the life of some scumbag. It's not so much that I don't think that some people are capable of redemption as much as that I don't think they are worthy of redemption. We are a violent species. America recognizes that fact. Finally, while thugs and psychos don't really scare me much, I am a bit worried about the cold-heartedness of anyone who, upon hearing about a tragedy like the Colorado shootings, immediately thinks about how they can use that to score political points. Those people may not be violent, but they do strike me as possibly being devoid of compassion and empathy, which are also very human traits.
Well, the US and Australia have similarities (both used as penal colonies, previous British rule, etc), Australians never fought for their freedom against Brittania. Think of the Minutemen. These were private citizens who were armed and prepare to engage in guerilla warfare with the British at a moment's notice. The way the United States was born, on bloody fields, was based on citizenry being armed. To say that we have a culture of violence because we have guns may have some merit, but misses the point of how we got to be who we are as a country.
That's just Federal debt and doesn't include state and municipal debt nor personal debt. Also it doesn't include a massive number (as if 15.9T isn't massive) of unfunded liabilities and entitlements.
I heard about that colorado shooting, i live close, but not in that area, I fell terrible for the wounded people who were shot, Thank god alot of them lived
Yeah, it's a bit off from the original topic, but the staff has discussed this type of tangent before and we mostly agreed that it's good for the community to be able to occasionally have these types of debates provided everyone remains civil and friendly. If we start to see personal attacks or other major violations of the rules we have to step in and shut it down. I haven't really read every reply yet, but so far I haven't seen anything that really steps over the line. It's my personal opinion that this type of discussion helps people to cope in the aftermath of a tragedy. I remain grateful that I live in a place where this is considered a tragedy instead of one of the places where bombings, shootings, and tyranny are everyday occurrences.
Went & donated blood tonight. The theater is like 2-3 miles from the donation spot and the entire mall is like a ghost town. His house was 5-10 minutes away from the area, surrounded by cops, filled with explosives. This dude is a nut job to the highest degree. The only thing I can say is hug your family, call your friends, do something nice for someone, and DONATE BLOOD! The Denver area hospitals were wiped out of their blood supply. At 5pm, when I went in to donate, they had just gotten enough to refill the reserve the hospitals need. You never know when there is going to be an emergency, so if you're looking for something to do to help, that is what you should do.
